The avalanche of noise that erupts as the play button is depressed, while superficially exciting, made me ask, “Isn’t this the same ‘one, two, three, go!’ with which countless other improvisers open their sets?” Prepared as I was to be under-whelmed after further decent-yet-familiar free-improv gesticulations, I was awestruck once it came to the forth and fifth tracks, excerpts from the duo’s performance at L’Auberge des Quatres Vents. The first of the two charts the evisceration of new age music, beginning with fierce tinkling bells that grow more frantic over a Fripp-like, e-bowed guitar chorale. Palardy Roger begins a throaty chant (calling to mind Sidsel Endresen as much as Diamanda Galas), alongside pulsating metallic sheets emanating from Frith’s guitar. Additional surprises follow. On the next track, industrial drone and clatter accompany Frith’s breathy ad hoc croon. Later, amidst a flurry of soft cymbals, a slide guitar solo emerges. The piece bridges the gap between early Sonny Sharrock and Einstürzende Neubauten (especially the Blixa-like vocals). These unexpected flavours serve as a reminder of how exciting it is to hear improvisers exercise their freedom to borrow ideas from outside of the standard free-improv lexicon.

Consuete buone nuove dal prolifico giro Ambiances Magnétiques. Michel F Côté (Klaxon Gueule) e Isaiah Ceccarelli manipolano strumenti a percussione (batterie, pianoforti) e un po’ d’altro (elettronica, lap steel, tromba) facendone risultare improvvisazioni e sincopi il cui (forte) senso ritmico si astrae e raggruma in una miriade di costipatissime micro-apparizioni che vanno e vengono come in un flipper (in più di un momento vengono in mente i fURT); ascolto che richiede massima attenzione e che ipnotizza ancor prima gli occhi che le orecchie.

Più tradizionale l’incontro tra il contrabbasso di Joëlle Léandre e il piano/piano preparato di Quentin Sirjacq, i cui duetti esprimono una tensione costante ma tenuta a freno da una sensibilità sonora estremamente raffinata e riservata, quasi intimista; nei rari momenti in cui l’equilibrio viene meno — o meglio è lasciato più libero — il risultato è straordinario.

Già dai nomi coinvolti (Jean Derome, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Pierre Tanguay e Martin Tétreault) l’Ensemble SuperMusique si presenta come una sorta di supergruppo dell’improvvisata canadese; i musicisti si sono dati poche ma rigide regole: minimo di due esecutori per volta, sequenze che non vadano oltre il minuto di durata, poi repentino cambio di materiali e pausa personale di almeno una sequenza. Il risultato è meno cervellotico di quanto non appaia anche se non così coinvolgente: improvvisazioni che coinvolgono ogni tipo di strumento (fiati, corde, elettronica, sampler, giradischi, oggetti) con un gran senso dell’ironia, del gioco e del paradosso e nessun rispetto delle (altre) regole.

In questo doppio il Quatuor Bozzini di Stéphanie e Isabelle Bozzini si cimenta nell’impresa di riprodurre l’intero corpus per quartetti e quintetti d’archi di James Tenney. Le due sorelle (rispettivamente viola e violoncello), coadiuvate da Clemens Merkel e Nadia Francavilla (entrambe al violino) e con pochi altri interventi di percussioni, piano e contrabbasso, ripercorrono la produzione del compositore (l’arco di tempo è 1955-2006) sottolineandone la grande forza evocatrice, quasi maieutica: lenti e a tratti quasi impercettibili movimenti che avanzano ponendosi e sovrapponendosi in una tensione paradossalmente e/statica. Dalle composizioni più vecchie a quelle esplicitamente influenzate dai coevi esperimenti elettronici e minimalisti (’60 e ’70) fino a quelle che includono anche percussioni e piano (anni ’90), un viaggio capace di esaltare e lasciare basiti di fronte al farsi di diversi capolavori.

Y’a du bruit dans ma cabane, Ensemble SuperMusique’s second CD, marks a serious side step from its debut Canevas +, which culled excerpts from concerts presented in Montréal between 1998 and 2004, and featured various facets and line-ups of the group. This brand-new release is the product of a single line-up and features some tasty homogeneity. One really hears a group sound from beginning to end. One can feel the unity of breath, the deep and intense cohesion existing between Jean Derome, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Pierre Tanguay, and Martin Tétreault. Built from concepts suggested by Derome, Hétu, Labrosse, and Palardy Roger, this lively shack full of adventurous sonic outbursts is inhabited by a true family, a team of improvisation champs. A fun shack where sonic brilliance has been enhanced by Paul Dolden’s magic ears.

Walking into L’Envers is like entering a scene from the ’70s East Village. If Patti Smith were on the old couch in the corner talking to the motley assortment of Montréal improvisers, artists, gallerists and dancers typical of a L’Envers audience I wouldn’t bat an eye. This is the newest music venue in the Mile-End and everything from the large photos on the wall—by the very talented Marie-Ève Dompierre — to the warehouse-style windows, the turn-of-the-century wooden support beams, and the homemade feel of the space suggests that this is a space run by artists for artists and audiences alike.

The mastermind behind the scenes is Gordon Allen. An incredible trumpet player and improviser, a talented organizer, a quick-witted schmoozer, an hilarious MC and a big-hearted friend of at least half of the musicians in Montréal, Allen is just what Montréal needs to get its improvised music scene off and running. He’ll emerge from the dense crowd, clad in a porkpie hat and cuffed shirt, beaming at how well the evening is going, how well the musicians are playing, and how many great people have showed up.

Along with three other like-minded musicians, he’s responsible for this new hotspot. Together they’ve worked to create a space committed to presenting music, dance, and performance — “anything that involves improvisation” — that would otherwise have trouble being shown. Their mandate is to offer the excellent musicians of Montréal a comfortable place to play, and to build an audience that comes curious, listens carefully, and leaves satisfied.

But Allen is a far busier man than his carefree, joyous demeanor might suggest. He has been organizing the improvised music community since he arrived in Montréal from Guelph in 2005. The monthly series at Casa Del Popolo “Improvising Montréal” came under his control in 2006; and Mardi Spaghetti, a weekly series he curates along with three other improvisers at Cagibi, is going to celebrate its first anniversary in March.

On Saturday, January 17th, L’Envers opened its new year of programming with a celebration of Art’s Birthday. (It took a couple of weeks for the members of their mailing list to realize that they weren’t talking about a guy named Arthur, but rather celebrating the birth of Art, which Robert Filliou famously starting celebrating in 1963. Check this out.) CKUT was there with their live broadcasting gear. Six bands were slated to play. There was a birthday cake competition and West-Coast artist Glenn Lewis re-enacted the birth of Art.

I arrived just as Gordon took the stage with his trio Pink Saliva, with drummer Michel F Côté and bassist Alexandre St-Onge. Their layered, richly textured mix of acoustic improvisation and electronics sent a hush over the hundred or more gathered. Many took a seat on the floor and listened to the flow of expressive sounds, ranging from beautiful trumpet melody to the harsh but effective noise-electronics of Côté and St-Onge.

Even the loud students next to me stopped talking and I saw their facial expressions change to concentrated curiosity as they craned their necks to see how those three musicians were making such otherworldly sounds.

“When audiences are more attentive,” Gordon had told me earlier in the week, “the musicians have to scrutinize their own work more. Consequently we’re pushed harder to create, and the music advances. I’ve seen that here, and it’s an incredible thing to be a part of. Worth all the work we’ve put into it.”

Contrabassist supreme, Joëlle Léandre always excels in the duo situation. Check out any of her many duo excursions with Derek Bailey, Steve Lacy, Irene Schweizer, India Cooke, Kevin Norton, Barre Phillips or William Parker, and you will find each to be wonderful in its own way. Once again we find Joëlle in another extraordinary duo. I recall Montréal-based pianist Quentin Sirjacq from a trio he is in with Antoine Berthiaume & Norman Teale that played a the Victo Fest a few years back and were great, as is their CD on AM.

This is a studio date that was recorded in Paris by Jean Marc Foussat, who always does a fabulous job with each disc that he has recorded and mixed for Joëlle. Right from the first note, we know we are in for some superb, magical sounds. Most of the pieces are relatively short so that they focus in on certain areas of sound. Fragment 1 sounds like the bass is breathing slowly in and out, organically unfolding. Fragment 2 is more explosive with cautious inside-the-piano sounds balancing more hyper-tense moments. Quentin plays a dreamy gentle, melodic fragment on Presence while Joëlle brings in some darker sounds banging softly on her her bass with her bow. The suspense grows deeper on The Call while Quentin holds down the sustain pedal while playing minimal skeletal notes as Joëlle also plays hushed bowed ghost-like notes. Ruin seems to be appropriately titled since Joëlle’s spooky voice and the dark piano rumble through the ruins of our collective minds. Each piece feels like a scene from a story or a soundtrack to film noir type of movie. Once again a duo exchange brings out the best from Joëlle Léandre and her current collaborator Quentin Sirjacq.